India has 29,151 EV charging stations, including 8,805 fast chargers: Govt

New Delhi, Dec 16:  India now has 29,151 electric vehicle charging stations (EVCS) all over the country, the Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

Out of these, 8,805 EV charging stations are fast charging stations and 20,346 EV charging stations are slow charging stations, said Minister of State for Heavy Industries, Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma, in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

An allocation of Rs 2,000 crore has been made under the PM E-DRIVE Scheme for deployment of EV charging infrastructure on pan-India basis, he added.

The second phase of FAME India scheme was implemented for a period of 5 years (till 31.03.2024) with an outlay of Rs 11,500 crore.

A total of 16,71,606 lakh EVs have been sold under the scheme and 6,862 e-buses have been sanctioned under the scheme.

Besides this, 8,932 EV Public Charging stations (EVPCS) have been installed by three oil marketing companies (OMCs), according to the minister.

The PM E-DRIVE Scheme with an outlay of Rs 10,900 crore is being implemented from 01.04.2024. This scheme aims to support electric vehicles including e-2W, e-3W, e-Trucks, e-buses and e-Ambulances, and also EV public charging stations and upgradation of testing agencies.

Setting up of electric vehicle charging stations is an unlicensed activity and private entrepreneurs can also participate in the activity as per the Ministry of Power guidelines.

Moreover, the Ministry of Heavy Industries is administering the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme namely “National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage,” approved in May 2021 with a total outlay of Rs 18,100 crore to establish 50 GWh of domestic Advanced Chemistry Cell manufacturing capacity.

Besides the PLI ACC scheme applicants, at least 10 manufacturers have announced a cumulative capacity of about 178GWh in the country over the next five years, according to the minister.

The Union Cabinet has also approved the scheme to promote manufacturing of Sintered Rare Earth Permanent Magnet (REPM) with financial outlay of Rs. 7,280 crore to establish 6,000 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) of integrated REPM manufacturing capacity in the country.

--IANS